The Swedish retail giant IKEA announced yesterday it will invest $4.6-million to install 3,790 solar panels on three Toronto area stores, giving IKEA the electric-power-producing capacity of 960,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) per year. According to IKEA, that’s enough electricity to power 100 homes. Amazing development. Even more amazing is the economics of this project. Under the Ontario government’s feed-in-tariff solar power scheme, IKEA will receive 71.3¢ for each kilowatt of power produced, which works out to about $6,800 a year for each of the 100 hypothetical homes. Since the average Toronto home currently pays about $1,200 for the same quantity of electricity, that implies that IKEA is being overpaid by $5,400 per home equivalent.

Each year, IKEA will receive $684,408 under Premier Dalton McGuinty’s green energy monster — for power that today retails for about $115,000.

The European green model that the glo-bull warming fools want us to follow is collapsing under the strain of high unemployment, high electricity rates, increasing CO2 emissions (which does virtually nothing) and public distaste and Ontario and idiot polticians like Ignatieff want to adopt the same model. Just think of Toronto… they might elect Smitherman their new mayor. No wonder Rob Ford is so popular.

The surprise announcement on Thursday marks a victory for local residents, who complained that the 900-megawatt,gas-fired power station would be too close to neighbouring homes and schools and pose health and safety risks. But it also leaves in tatters Premier Dalton McGuinty’s pledge that he won’t tolerate the “not-in-my-backyard” attitude of opponents to green-energy projects, his flagship job-creation initiative.

Instead, Canada needs to refocus the debate, and have the courage to build a successful society around the concept of citizenship.

Canadians should not be afraid to articulate – to the native-born and to newcomers – a sense of what defines the country and the idea that citizenship brings with it responsibilities, not just rights.

Immigrants come because they see Canada as a beacon of opportunity and freedom – values that shouldn’t be lost in an endless discussion about the accommodation of differences. Canada cannot replicate their homelands, nor should it strive to.

Today on ‘Deep Cuts & Lost Classics’ we go into bayou country for a little bit of swamp rock? I mean, exactly how do you pinpoint the musical genre of ‘Dr. John‘? He has had hits like ‘Right Place, Wrong Time’ and ‘Iko Iko’, but today’s song throws that right out the window. At over 7 minutes in weaves a hypnotic drum beat and cryptic lyrics into voodoo magic. For true enjoyment of this song turn off the lights and relax. Smoking something might help as well. Like a cigar. It’s weird, it’s unusual, but it’s certainly a trip from ‘The Night Tripper’. This is ‘I Walk On Guilded Splinters’ On ‘Deep Cuts & Lost Classics’.Dr. John – I Walk On Guilded Splinters